NewsComments Off on How Trump Could Destroy Obama’s LGBT Progress: WATCH

With tomorrow’s inauguration looming, Matt Baume has enumerated the ways in which the incoming administration could rollback the advances and protections the LGBT community has achieved over the course of two terms under President Obama. Baume’s rundown serves both a primer for activist vigilance going forward as well a look back on how the Obama administration advanced LGBT causes in ways both great and small. While marriage equality garners the most visibility and attention, there are various bureaucratic approaches that served to codify and enact LGBT recognition and privileges equal to those others have enjoyed. These include federal hate crime prosecution, nondiscrimination by federal contractors, and applicability of the Family and Medical Leave. The likely forthcoming repeal of the Affordable Care Act will remove provisions...

GOLDEN SHOWERS. Weather forecast for Trump’s inauguration. “The forecast has become more certain that Friday is going to be cloudy, damp and cool for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony and the subsequent parade.” SWEARING IN. He’ll use Lincoln Bible: “After a particularly contentious campaign for president in 2016, Trump’s inauguration committee said the significance of Lincoln and the fiercely divided nation he inherited in 1861 is echoed in what some see as a country working through divisions that are also significantly deep.” AZEALIA BANKS. (Of course) she’d love to perform at Trump’s ‘EPIC’ inauguration. AMERICAN CRIME STORY. Ryan Murphy plans new series on the Monica Lewinsky scandal: “To that end, Murphy and American Crime Story producers Fox 21 ...

At a confirmation hearing today, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked Trump’s CIA Director nominee Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) to commit to treating LGBT people equally within the CIA despite his public record of opposing gay rights. Pompeo told Harris that “every employee will be treated in a way that is appropriate and equal.” Our transcript: HARRIS: Your voting record and stated position on gay marriage and the importance of having a ‘traditional family structure’ for raising children is pretty clear. I disagree with your position, but, of course, you are entitled to your opinion. I don’t want to that, however, to impact your opinion on that matter—the recruitment or retention of patriotic LGBT women and men in the CIA, some...

Ben Carson, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was asked for his thoughts on LGBTQ housing rights at a Senate confirmation hearing today. When asked by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) whether LGBTQ people deserve the same rights and access to housing opportunities as everyone else, Carson used rhetoric he has used in the past, at CPAC, with regard to marriage. RELATED: Ben Carson: Gay People Should Have Equal Rights But Not ‘Extra Rights’ Like Redefining Marriage — VIDEO At CPAC, Carson said, “Of course gay people should have the same rights as everyone else. But they don’t get extra rights, they don’t get to redefine marriage.” To Carson, marriage equality for LGBTQ is “extra rights” so that tells you a...

The head of AEG — which runs the world's most famous music festival — hits back at accusations of antigay animus, while a scheduled performer for the April event makes it clear he won't abide discrimination.

ELECTORAL CHALLENGE. Democratic lawmakers are considering challenge to Trump’s election at Congressional certification on Friday: “Perlmutter, Scott and other lawmakers were encouraged to file challenges by progressive groups who described three grounds to lodge a protest: foreign interference by Russia in the election, voter suppression and a more technical claim that dozens of electors of both parties were ineligible to serve.” ILLEGALLY SEATED. At least 50 Donald Trump electors were ineligible to serve: “That stunning finding is among the conclusions of an extensive 1,000-plus page legal briefing prepared by a bipartisan nationwide legal team for members of Congress who are being urged to object to certifying the 2016 Electoral College results on Friday.” OMAROSA. Apprentice loser leads Trump meeting with black leaders: “Manigault ...

Pete Buttigieg, the out gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced he is running for chairman of the Democratic National Committee in a video released Thursday. The Hill reports: Buttigieg, 34, was considering entering the race last month and said he received phone calls from DNC members both in his home state and nationally. The New York Times first reported the news of him entering the race. Buttigieg, who is openly gay, is a Harvard graduate and a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve. He made an unsuccessful run for Indiana state treasurer in 2010. He joins a growing field for DNC chair, which also includes South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison, New Hampshire Democratic Party Raymond Buckley and Idaho Democratic Party executive director Sally Boynton Brown. Watch: More...

Long Day’s journey Into Night. As we continue to blame 2016 for the myriad miseries it’s rained down upon us, here’s a reminder that it wasn’t all bad. New York theatre, on Broadway and off, brought us a powerful array of diverse voices, moving and provocative works by artists who are just getting started, and revivals of well-known works that blew audiences right out the door. Below, a roundup of our 10 favorite shows to hit New York stages this year. “Sense and Sensibility” 10. Sense and Sensibility: Bedlam Theatre Company’s stripped-down, wildly creative take on Austen’s classic, staged off-Broadway at the Gym at Judson, managed to capture the fun and escape of actually plunging into the beloved author’s novels. With an ...

NewsComments Off on Historians Imagine What Paris Sounded Like in the 18th Century

Imagine the sounds coming out of a busy blacksmith shop in an alleyway in Paris sometime back in the 18th century: the hammering of wrought iron, the rhythmic whoosh of air as the blacksmith uses a bellows to stoke a fire. We have no recordings of the actual sounds of Paris in those early days, so to try and make those 18th-century streets and alleys of Paris come to life takes a bit of careful historical research and a little imagination. That’s where French musicologist Mylène Pardoen, who’s been described as an “archaeologist of sound,” comes in. She’s created an “interpretation” of what Paris might have sounded like way back then. Her latest, the “Sound of 18th Century Paris...

Seth Meyers has a message for media and news organizations who are partaking in the normalization of the so-called “alt right”: “get you sh*t together.” Meyers pointed out several stories that downplayed the danger posed by white nationalists in America. Referring to a CNN headline that read, “Hipster or hate monger? The trendy young face of Austria’s far right”, Meyers asked, “How do you confuse hipsters with Nazis?” He then quipped: “Nazis like to invade other people’s territory and turn it into a utopia for the white race–okay, okay. Now I see the confusion. But still!” Meyers also pointed out that we don’t have to call the Alt-Right the Alt-Right simply because...

Sympathetic vomiters, beware. Out Olympic free-skier Gus Kenworthy has started his own YouTube channel and for his first video he took viewers with him as he journeyed to Austria. Kenworthy ended up in Austria on Halloween, one of his favorite holidays, and decided to dress up while he hit the slopes. Last year, Kenworthy showed off three Halloween costumes on Instagram, a Mean Girls ‘slut-mouse’, a sexy cop and a Native American chieftain (a costume which stirred a controversy at the time). This year, Kenworthy decided to dress up as a ‘traditional Austrian’ while he hit the Alpine slopes. Stripping out of his everyday ski gear, Kenworthy donned some fetching lederhosen and added a stein of beer to complete the look. He then...

THANKSGIVING. President Obama pardons his final turkey, makes lots of dad jokes: “When somebody at your table tells you that you’ve been hogging all the side dishes, you can’t have anymore, I hope you respond with a creed that sums of the spirit of the hungry people: Yes we cran.” JO BRO. Joe Jonas likes to get kinky: “It’s definitely fun when you bring some whips and leather and whatever you may be into – a little bit of S&M – into the bedroom.” DR. STABBY. Ben Carson has accepted post as HUD Secretary: “The announcement didn’t come from Donald Trump nor from the Trump transition team, but from Armstrong Williams, Dr. Ben Carson’s on-again, off-again, on-again ...

NewsComments Off on A Gay Power Ranger Just Made a Surprise Morphin Marriage Proposal to His Boyfriend: WATCH

Admitted cosplay nerd, gay Power Ranger, and founder of Muscle Geek Physique, a personal training company for cosplay enthusiasts in Milwaukee and Dallas, appears to have found his perfect match. His boyfriend Anthony recently got down on one knee and popped the question during a recent photo shoot and the magical morphin moment was captured on video. RELATED: The Buff Cast of ‘Power Rangers’ Show Off Their Mighty Morphin Gym Bodies – LOOK Wrote Reese on Facebook: You guys know that Anthony and I never do anything mediocre, we always have to be over-the-top! So, with that said, he had to make sure that the next step in our lives was more than special, it had to more Morphinominal! Anthony got down on one knee...

NewsComments Off on Disgraced Former GOP Congressman Aaron Schock Is Being Indicted

Former Republican Congressman Aaron Schock is expected to be indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday. The disgraced anti-gay Illinois lawmaker resigned from his seat in 2015 after questions arose about his alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars. The Chicago Tribune reports: Schock’s attorney, George Terwilliger, called the expected charges a “misuse” of prosecutorial power by the Justice Department. “This indictment will look bad, but underneath it is just made-up allegations of criminal activity arising from unintentional administrative errors,” Terwilliger said in a statement. “These charges are the culmination of an effort to find something, anything, to take down Aaron Schock. Federal prosecutors in Illinois were expected to announce charges later Thursday. More from the Journal Star: At a news conference...

NewsComments Off on Kim Davis Tries to Get Out of Paying $233K Legal Bill for Defying Gay Marriage

Kim Davis is trying to get out of paying over $230,000 in legal fees to the couples who challenged her defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage. Davis’ lawyers say she shouldn’t have to pay because the issue was settled by the Kentucky legislature when it did as Davis asked and removed county clerks’ names from state marriage licenses. However, lawyers for the plaintiff couples say that doesn’t change the fact that Davis violated the law, compelling them to sue. Furthermore, the controversial legislative workaround was reached as a result of the suit and the high-profile attention brought to the case. The AP reports: Attorneys for the couples who sued Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis asked U.S. District Judge David...